I have decided to talk about Lego as an investment, its a bit odd I know but stick with me.
Growing up the 80s and 90s I was a big fan of Lego but like most kids back then not many of my childhood toys survived my teens, not to mention a large part of my lego collection ended up in my mothers hover over the years. Lego just remained me of a happy time when I was a kid, and as I grew up and into adulthood, it was soon forgotten.
Fast forward to few years to when I moved into my first house, my parents who never miss a trick, seen this as great opportunity to make me collect a few boxes of stuff they had been keeping in their attic all these years, now that I had a place to call my own that is.
Perfect, Just what I needed, boxes full of junk to be sorted through, so I did what any sensible person would do faced with that situation and put the boxes into my own attic to deal with later.
Later became years and when I finally got around to opening the boxes I found amongst other things a small bag of 1980s Lego mini figures and parts of Lego sets, most of which where incomplete. As a avid ebayer and a person that always tries to recognize value,I decide to list the mini figure on ebay, as throwing stuff away is just not in my nature.
I listed the lego in two lots, one consisting of four lego pirates and the another lot of six Lego spacemen,I started the auction at 0.99 cent. But it is what happened next that really took me by surprise..
I expected that the lego would only sell for a few dollars, maybe a parent would pick them up for their kid or something, but as the days roll on the traffic to the auction grew.
I had over 500 views on both ads within a few days and the bids came in quick and fast. The first lot of Pirates sold for $46.00 and six Lego space men sold for $77.50 making a grand total if my maths are correct of $123.50, not bad for old lego mini figures I thought. But the extraordinary amount they sold for got me thinking, how could there have been so much value in these old toys? and as I started to do some research, I learned of an entire world of lego investing, that I never new existed.
The most popular type of Lego is Star Wars accounting for 10 of the 20 most expensive sets.
The Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon is the most expensive, having gone from a retail price of $510.00 in 2007 to $4000 today mint in box.
In the last 15 years, the average value of a Lego set has gone up, with "pristine condition" sets appreciating 12%, but what really increases the prices is when a model is discontinued, and sets from the last two years are up around 36% according to brick picker a website dedicated to monitoring the current sale price of Lego sets.
Here's the top five most expensive sets currently:
1.Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon: $510 in 2007, now $4,000
2 Cafe Corner: $134 in 2007, now $3,123
3 Taj Mahal: $298 in 2008, now $2,753
4 Death Star II: $372 in 2005, now $2,270
5.Imperial Star Destroyer: $249.99 in 2002, now $2,185
Lego sets can have a great returns, but it's not necessarily realistic to add Lego to your portfolio, given the legwork involved in buying and reselling, as well as keeping tabs on the market. But like antiques, it might not be a bad idea to dabble with a set or two, if you're into Lego that is, if nothing else maybe it worth thinking twice before hovering them up from your childs bedroom floor.
